Creamy Avocado Basil Pasta

So I know I said just the other day that my new addiction is Garlicky Kale, but I may have found something better (blasphemy, I know). My new new food addiction is this fresh Creamy Avocado Basil Pasta. And by addiction, yes, I do mean that I've made and eaten this dish four times already this past week alone. Don't judge till you try it.

Creamy Avocado Basil Pasta

Did I mention that once again this recipe is from Oh She Glows? Best. Blog. Ever.

The most amazing thing about this recipe is that it take as long to make as the pasta takes to cook. So fast, so easy, and pretty easy clean-up as well.

Start off by bringing your favorite pasta to a boil. I find myself going back time again to fettuccine, and I recently bought a spinach variety that was wonderful as well. Check the package to find out al dente cooking times.

While the pasta is cooking, get out that handy-dandy food processor of yours. Add:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 avocado
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tsp of lemon zest
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large fist full of basil--about a cup
• 1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Blend until smooth, adding an extra splash of olive oil if necessary to get that creamy consistency.

Once the pasta is done, simply drain, mix in the avocado sauce, and serve with an extra sprinkle of finely ground sea salt on top!

 

 

Note: The original recipe called for the pepper and lemon zest to be put on top of the mixed up pasta as the last step. I found that the avocado was kind of lost that way, so I started to use less of both and began blending it up in the sauce instead.

This dish also works great if you want to add some veggies. I've used spinach on several occasions, returning the drained noodles to the heat and adding some fresh baby spinach while I stir in the sauce. You just want them wilted a little bit. I bet mushrooms or asparagus would be lovely as well!

 

 

It is difficult to get this recipe exactly right, just because you can't control every factor, such as the size of the avocado or garlic clove. Play around, figure out how you like it, and enjoy!

 

As a last note, do not store this pasta in the refrigerator and attempt to reheat it later. Make the amount of pasta you need and store any extra sauce in the fridge. That way when you want leftovers you can quickly and easily make more pasta and stir in the cold sauce with the hot noodles.

Birthday Celebrations

I am having so much fun discovering all of the wonderful foods and restaurants to go to and eat at. This past Friday we went to Kabuki Japanese Steak & Seafood and enjoyed a hibachi show.

Kabuki Japanese Steak & Seafood

The building was beautiful. The ceiling was pained with stars, there were marine fish tanks everywhere, and they had a lounge featuring a waterfall.

Cucumber & Avocado Sushi and a salad with ginger dressing.

My first experience with vegan sushi was awesome--it was super yummy and I easily could have filled up on about five of those rolls.

My delicious sauteed veggies.

The very first thing the chef did was dump a gigantic bowl of mixed vegetables on the hibachi. I thought that they would be divided amoung everyone as a first course, but I was delighted to see that they were all for me!

This is what my plate looked like when I had eaten half of my food...
The leftovers were a perfect breakfast the day after!

The "Vegetarian Dinner" was wonderful. I didn't get the soup and grilled shrimp that everyone else got, but I was 100% content and satisfied with my meal. There was a garlic sauce to die for that I basically drown my already amazing veggies in, and then there was an amazing ginger and soy sauce dressing that was particularly good on the fried rice. So, so fantastic that I am starting to drool just remembering about it. And all for only $13!

Onion Volcano

Our Malaysian chef.

And on top of that, the show was good and the company was lovely.

James, Heenal, Carla, Helen, me, and Darren.

Day 14

This is my last day in week two of the 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart, and I've got a really good feeling about my weigh in tomorrow morning. First though, to get through some delicious meals today.

Breakfast:
Breakfast Burrito
Dan Dan Mian (recipe)
Banana

Lunch:
Portobello Fajitas (recipe)

Dinner:
???
Mango Lime Sorbet (recipe)

You're right, I can't just eat sorbet for dinner (though that does sound rather delightful). My new vegan friend, Jessica, has invited me over to her house and is cooking for us! I've no idea what we'll be having, but I'm sure it will be wonderful and I'll take pictures and get the recipe if it is super yummy. So excited!

Dan Dan Mian

This is probably one of my favorite recipes thus far, but then again it doesn't take very much Asian food to sway me. This also happens to be one of the quickest and easiest recipes as well, and I can easily see this becoming a lunch time staple from now on. I've only eaten hours ago and I'm already craving another bowl.

Dan Dan Mian

Don't ask me what the name means, by the way. I haven't a clue.

Basically all you have to do is boil some soba noodles noodles for 4 minutes. Soba noodles are made of buckwheat, but mine had yam as well. One bunch, or about 3.5-4 ounces, of noodles is one generous serving.

Soba Noodles

Next, in a small dish you'll want to mix up the sauce. I used 1/2 teaspoon of chili paste and 2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar. Then I added enough soy sauce to dilute the spiciness to the level I wanted. Low sodium soy sauce is always the way to go if you are using more than a teaspoon.

The chili paste and rice wine vinegar came from an Asian market.
The soy sauce and sesame seeds came from Food Lion.

One the noodles are done, drain them and return them to the pot. Dump the sauce over top and stir (you'll have to play around to get the amount of sauce right--I ended up having to use extra soy sauce). Serve them with green onion and sesame seeds on top.



So much awesomeness in such a little bowl...

This recipe also called for pickled cabbage on top but I didn't have any. Maybe next time!

Linguine with Seared Oyster Mushrooms

While there aren't many foods that I don't like, mushrooms have got to be one of my all time favorites. Simmered in white wine, who could say no?

Linguine with Seared Oyster Mushrooms & Wilted Spinach with Lemon

My only complaint here was that this meal was so acidic. Next time I would probably leave the lemon out of the spinach, since there is already lemon, tomato, and capers in the pasta sauce.

If a pan I first sauteed a mix of oyster, shikate, and cremini mushrooms. Half way through I dumped in a little white wine. Let that evaporate and then cook the mushrooms a bit longer just so that they get crisp. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside.

Next, put one can of crushed fire-roasted tomatoes, the juice of one lemon, and a tablespoon of capers into the pan. Let simmer while you boil your pasta. Once that's done plate the pasta, top with sauce, and sprinkle the mushrooms on top along with some fresh sliced basil. This goes really well with some oven-toasted garlic bread as well.

The taste makes up for the less-than-stellar looks. Or maybe that's just my plating skills?

Day 5

Today didn't go quite as planned.

This morning's menu included a Breakfast Burrito, which I made along with (what was supposed to be yesterday's) a Mango Spice Smoothie. The burrito was filled with fried potato, onion, and kale, and it was quite bland. Perhaps some pico de gallo could liven it up a bit? The smoothie has the word "spice" in the name because it literally included a hot pepper. It wasn't bad, but it isn't a flavor combination that I will be using again.

Potato & Kale Breakfast Burrito

I had a lab for my Fisheries class today which didn't get out until almost evening. That, plus the fact that breakfast was very filling, contributed to the fact that I didn't have lunch today. I was actually supposed to go shopping yesterday but didn't have the time, so I didn't really have the ingredients for today's recipes anyways. I ended up going to Kroger's, but forgot to get something for tonight so I just ended up eating odds and ends like toast and hummus with cucumber. I decided to try some rather expensive vegan dark chocolate sandwich cookies from the store, which turned out to taste wonderful and made an excellent impromptu dessert.

So, sorry for the slacking--I promise to be more on track with the meal plan tomorrow!

To be honest, I'm getting a little sick of the Latin flavors. I feel like I'm getting mostly the same variations of rice and beans with salsa, and am getting bored with it. What I really want are some good Asian flavors. Where is my morning bowl of miso? There are quite a few of these types of recipes later on in the book, so I briefly considered switching around some days. I decided to be patient and just wait it out, however. I'll be happy to delve into some curry, ginger, mushroom, and rich umami flavors in a few weeks.

Due to the fact that I don't own a scale, I thought I would keep track of weight loss by taking measurements, which I recorded on day three. My reading for today asked me not to do that, so I headed out after class to purchase a bathroom scale. While testing it out in the kitchen when I returned home it read 252.8 pounds. I'm normally about 255. I'd say that 2.2 pounds in five days aren't too bad of results! I'll be weighing myself every Sunday and measuring progress that way. This is starting to get exciting!

Not Every One is a Winner

Most of the recipes thus far have been astonishingly good, and I haven't missed meat or diary at all. Every once in a while though, things just don't work out.

Lunch today wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing either. I made a Sun-dried Tomato and Hummus Wrap, which I ate along with the the last of my fruit as well as some chips and salsa.

Sun-Dried Tomato & Hummus Wrap

Even though the ingredients were good, it just didn't come together. I think it was the fact that there just wasn't enough filling--too much tortilla, too little flavorful goodness. It also wasn't very filling, so I was hungry in only two hours.

Sometimes the whole...

...ISN'T greater than the sum of the parts.

This pales in comparison to dinner though. What a fiasco. First, the Quick Black Bean Chili. It tasted horrible, and wasn't like chili at all. It was a pile of black beans with some mushy tomatoes clinging to it with far too much bottled chili powder taste. I took one bite and threw the entire pot out, which makes me really sad to do (good thing I made only two servings worth). It even looked terrible.

Next, the Tomatillo Salsa. I was very excited about this because I have never tried tomatillos before. First off, some of the tomatillos had bugs in them. Second, they were oddly sticky, which was a little disturbing to me. I can't really describe the texture. Are they always like that? Next, the recipe said to halve them and then simmer until they turn into sauce. They didn't turn into anything except for very soft and hot tomatillo halves. I ended up using the food processor to make it more of a "salsa" consistency. Also, the recipe called for a ton of onion and garlic--an entire onion for less than two cups of salsa! I scaled it back a little. When I tasted the salsa with a spoon after pulsing I was not impressed at all. It was sour, and I couldn't imagine what to pair it with. It wasn't terrible though, so I decided to see how it would go on the rice.

Oh, the rice... The knobs on our stove are counter-logical, and so the three of us are guilty of accidentally turning on the wrong burner all the time. Well, I meant to have the rice on low and the salsa on med-high. I accidentally put it the other way around. It was only moments before the entire apartment was thick with burnt smoke. All three of us drug out fans and ran around flapping our arms, magazines, potholders, and whatever else we could find at the smoke. Even with the doors and windows open I can still smell it a bit, hours later. The rice didn't catch on fire, but it was close. Thank goodness the fire alarm for our building didn't go off. I'm not sure if that poor pot is salvageable now though.

Suffice to say, I was a bit put out by all of this. I had a Wildlife Society meeting to go to at 7 pm, so I decided just to get dinner out. Vegetable lo mein and a diet coke from Happy Wok might not be the best diet food, but it was vegan and I was tired and hungry. I was actually feeling pretty bad about the whole thing, thinking this whole endeavor was a waste of time and stupid of me, but a little smoke-free air and food in my belly soon turned my attitude around. That, and pretending to be an emperor penguin and frog noises at the meeting. All's well that ends well, I suppose.

Day 4

Here is the menu for day four of the 21-Day Weight Loss Kick Off:

Breakfast:
Mango Spice Breakfast Smoothie (recipe)
Oatmeal with blueberries

Lunch:
Hummus and Sun-Dried Tomato Wrap (recipe)
Low-fat baked tortilla chips
Fresh apple

Dinner:
Quick Black Bean Chili (recipe)
Rice Topped with Tomatillo Sauce (recipe)
Warmed corn tortillas

I will probably be making quite a few changes today. I was so bogged down with homework deadlines last night that I didn't have any time to cook and just ended up eating my leftover Rustic Tomato Soup. This morning, instead of the smoothie I am going to make the Bananas in Berry Artesia recipe (which is basically the same ingredients in a different form). The tiny food processor we have isn't cutting it, so I'm going to have to go out and find a blender.

Today's going to be a busy one, so forgive me if I don't post until this evening.

Day 3

The menu for today is:

Breakfast:
Citrus and Sage Oatmeal (recipe)
Multigrain Toast
Orange Slices

Lunch:
Balsamic Zucchini Sandwich (recipe)
Artichoke Heart and Tomato Salad (recipe)

Dinner:
Red Beans and Rice with Collard Greens (recipe)
Bananas in Berries Artesia (recipe)

I am very, very excited about this last recipe, the Berry Artesia. Supposedly it is a dessert from New Orleans. If you know me at all, then you know I am all about dessert!

I do have some self control though. Carla was so sweet yesterday and brought home a cookie cake for us all. I'm sure it had milk, eggs, and butter galor. Alas, I could not partake. I told Carla that I'd have to appreciate it with my heart, not my stomach.

Sweet, beautiful cookie cake...

So yes, I am very excited to have a vegan dessert. I have watched the show Cupcake Wars a few times, and there is a girl that won twice with completely vegan recipes, and that is over top of normal recipes with butter and the works. I may have to look into how she makes those. It's making me hungry just thinking about it...

Carla, Darren, and Helen hanging out enjoying the cookie cake.

Rustic Tomato Soup

This is dinner for day two of the 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart. The menu called for Rustic Tomato Soup, mixed salad greens with Red Pepper Vinaigrette, and a piece of sourdough toast.



Rustic Tomato Soup, mixed salad greens with Red Pepper Vinaigrette, and toast.

Surprisingly, the store had to sourdough so I had a slice of 12 grain bread. This was a loaf that I had had, and when I looked at the ingredients I saw milk on the list. Technically this is non-vegan bread, but I just couldn't in good conscience throw away a perfectly good full loaf of bread. Besides, in the study where Dr. Campbell fed rats a diet of 20% casein (milk protein) and 5% casein, those who ate only 5% in their diet saw their cancerous tumors begin to receed. I don't think a tablespoon of milk is going to kill me.

Tonight's dinner was fabulous, and much less of a hassel than day one. The tomato soup consisted of onion, garlic, diced Roma tomato, water, fresh thyme, freshly ground cumin, salt, and pepper simmered together until the tomatoes broke down. At that point I added half a cup of rice and let it simmer on low for 25 minutes. Super easy, right? The only problem I had was that there wasn't any liquid left when the rice was finished cooking, so I had to stir some water back in. I had to be quite heavy on the salt as well. I would definitely make this again, maybe with a little more tomato and a little less rice.

Rustic Tomato Soup

The vinaigrette was also very simple. I tried out the food processor again, and thankfully it only leaked a tiny bit. I think we may need a new one... Anyways, I put one roasted red pepper, one clove of garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and two tablespoons of red wine vinegar in the food processor and let it go until it was as fine as I thought it would get. The dressing was still a little pulpy--I think it would have been better as a puree. I'm not a huge fan of red bell peppers, so I don't think I would make this too often, but it was pretty good.

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

I went ahead and made the full batch (two servings) of soup because I knew I would eat the leftovers at some point. This turned out to be so filling that I couldn't even finish my salad either. Another winner!

Day 2

Day 1 had its ups and downs. On to day two!

Here is the menu for the day:

Breakfast
Costa Rican Rice and Beans (Gallo Pinto) (recipe)
Sliced pineapple and mango
Pumpernickle toast with orange jam

Lunch
BST (Bacon, Sprout, and Tomato Sandwich) (recipe)
Sweet Potato Fries (recipe)

Dinner
Rustic Tomato Soup (recipe)
Salad of mixed greens with Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette (recipe)
Slice of toasted sourdough bread

Another of the things that I really enjoy about the 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart book is that there are daily readings. Today Dr. Barnard talked a little about the lack of meat and asked how I was feeling. Today I am supposed to have increased energy and improved digestion. Negative on both fronts. The energy thing might be my fault--I didn't go to bed till almost midnight last night and then had my alarm set for 4 am. I felt so miserable when I got up and started working on homework that I pretty much said, "Screw this," and went back to bed, missing my Organic Chem and Economics classes. It is 11am now, and I've just finished breakfast, but I still feel like I'd give anything to go back to bed (I won't, of course). As for digestion, that's always been a big problem for me. I have IBS, and just about anything can trigger it. Even my vegan breakfast this morning didn't settle so well. But it is only day two after all, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Dinner

This is dinner for day one. Talk about a three course meal--this was a huge amount of food! I made a Balsamic Pear Salad, Caldo Verde, and Fettuccine with Asparagus, Peas, & Lemon.

Day One Dinner

I almost didn't make everything that the book had listed, but decided to stick to the plan as closely as possible. Whereas my earlier meals were fairly simply, I basically destroyed the kitchen while making all this. Flipping through the upcoming menus, I notice that everything is quite a bit simpler than this, and it makes me wonder if they tried to be impressive on the very first day and took it a little over the top. Either way, I'm glad there are no more "feasts" in my immediate future.

Admittedly, I didn't really like any of theses three dishes. I started off making the Caldo Verde, which I believe is supposed to be a Portuguese version of Zuppa Toscana. This is not what it turned out like...

Looks pretty good so far...

I think a lot of the reason for this was human error. The recipe said to blend the potatoes to get a puree. All I had was Carla's little food processor, and the bottom came unscrewed while I was blending. All of the boiling hot liquid pour out (all over my book). So after this point, it wasn't really soup anymore. It was more like mushed onion and potato baby food. Yuck.

Caldo Verde

The recipe called for half a bunch of kale, which I think ended up being a little too much. Also, it called for soy chorizo or another vegetable-based sausage. The only kind I could find in Krogers that was vegan was a brand called Gimme Lean, which was basically chunky refried beans in a chub. Following the instructions carefully (and against my better judgement), I just plopped some of that in at the end and tried to break it up with the spoon. Bad idea. I would make this again, but with some serious alterations. I would have sauteed the onions and garlic first, used vegetable stock, diced the kale finer, made sure there was a lot more liquid, and IF I decided to use the veggie sausage again, I would cook it and crumble it in a separate pan first. This recipe was edible, but just barely.

Next was the fettuccine. This one sounded promising to me, though I was confused about what I was supposed to dress the noodles with. As it turns out, nothing. Also a bad (and very sticky) idea.

Fettuccine with Asparagus, Peas, & Lemon

The asparagus was to be tossed in a garlic lemon sauce before grilling, but once they were on the grill that sauce evaporated and the asparagus got very dry. The pasta also had a bunch of chopped parsley in it. The only variety of parsley I could find at Krogers looked very odd to me, but it was that or nothing so I bought it. It was a flat-leaf variety, and it turned out to be bitter and spicy and overly aromatic. It pretty much ruined whatever goodness would have been in the dish to begin with. The noodles were sticky and flavorless so I squeezed the juice of one lemon over them, which was actually quite nice. I ended up eating these with my fingers and picking bits of parsley off of the noodles and my tongue as I went along. Less than an awesome experience, to say the least. If I were to make this again I would have steamed the asparagus and peas in the oven in aluminum foil with the garlic lemon mixture. I would have poured the entire packet on top of the freshly drained noodles, and then used some normal parsley to top it off. This recipe has potential, but it needs some major changes.

Lastly but not least (well, actually yes, least) is the salad. It is comprised of arugula, Bartlett pear, radish, and a red wine vinegar reduction.

 

Balsamic Pear Salad

 

I really like fruit on my salads so I thought for sure this one would be a winner. I was wrong. Have you ever had raw arugula? It is awful. It was so bitter that it actually induced an involuntary gag reflex when it got to the back of my throat. There was only one brand at the store, which looked less than stellar, so maybe the quality was the problem. Either way, I took only one bite before pushing it away. I ended up picking the pears and radishes off the top and eating those. The dressing was lovely though, I must say. The recipe called for balsamic vinegar, but all I had was red wine vinegar. I put some in a pan and let it reduce until it was a little thicker, and then drizzled that over the salad. I will definitely be using the vinaigrette recipe again.

 

 

Three strikes, your out. It was a little disappointing, especially after all the effort it took to cook it, but it is okay really. Dr. Barnard says that if you don't get the occasional dud then you are not experimenting enough. We'll just chalk this up to a valuable culinary learning experience.